I would confirm it first, I would try calling everyone I know, my friends, my parents, my roommate. When those calls yielded no results, I would try 911, and government phone numbers I happen to have on my desk. I would wander outside while on the phone and look for someone, anyone. I would listen, for a plane in the sky, cars on the highway, people in their houses. When it became evident that I was alone, I would become bolder and knock on doors which would soon give way to yelling and smashing on them. I would then break windows, enter strange houses, set off car alarms. I would take my roommates bicycle and pedal out a few miles to try the same things and have no success. I would break down and cry and call for my parents, my mom and my dad. I would pray to god and beg to god and yell at god. A god I didn't believe in but in a moment of desperation I hoped would comfort me. I would go to the convenience store and get a lighter and fluid, then set the place ablaze. I would sit outside eating what I lifted from inside and wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. No one. When there was nothing but embers, I would get up and find the nearest house with a car parked in the drive. I would look for the keys to their vehicle, I would probably fail to find them. So I would move to the next house, and the next until I got myself transportation. I would broaden my search radius, and then drive into the city. I think my sanity would break at this point. Permanently, I do not know, but it would be terrible. I imagine a panic attack so severe, that I almost die, and I would cry until I could cry no more. I will have been up for a long time at this point, perhaps I will drink myself to death, or perhaps I just fall asleep in the car. I would wake up 4 hours later, sleep no longer possible. Haunting nightmares made sleep restless and horrible. I would question reality, I would find something to eat. I would go to my parents house and lay low for a while, live on the food that is still available, sleep in their bed. I would spend my days in a delirious stupor, hardly able to sleep, hardly able to live, not sure if I was dead or alive. I would be so alone, I would smell their smells and yell at god some more. WHY AM I STILL HERE!?!

I think it would pass, in a week or some months. And I would find reason to live. I will find someone else! I WILL find someone else! I would take the vehicle and make long journeys. 25 miles. 50 miles. 100 miles. 200 miles. Electrical grid I imagine would die at some point. Gas would no longer pump. Start swapping vehicles when necessary, searching out gas cans in garages, find a gun somewhere. Don't know why I need a gun, maybe for bears. Teach myself how to fire gun, reload gun, maintain gun? Don't know how. Find library. Spend weeks there. Search out more libraries. Spend months to years learning how to survive, how to hunt, to fish, to skin and gut, to siphon fuel, how to maintain a vehicle, how to cook, how to preserve meat, how to preserve fruit, how to grow fruit, how to grow vegetables, how to fly a plane, how to fly a helicopter, medicine, basic trauma. Drive further. 1000 miles. 2000 miles. At the end of the continent. What do I do?

Find an airport. Find plane with fuel. No key, can't get in. Find private airport. Search houses in 10 mile radius. Find keys for airplanes. Go try them. Find plane and drive it around on the ground. Take it up to more speed and test it. Freak out and decide this is not the best idea. Go find a place to hole up by the ocean. Live off the land. Chop firewood, eat, drink, read. Repeat. Learn how to make an electric generator because I miss electricity. Try and fail. Try and fail. Succeed. Electricity for the first time in years. Watch 2001: A Space Odyssey, cry at the lost memories. Find a comedy. Laugh, or try to. Too depressing, slip into depression for months. More months. Barely living. Wish I could die. Attempt suicide. I am too much of a coward. Start feeling better, start taking care of myself. Take risks, drive fast, paddle boat far out into the ocean to fish, dance in a field in a lightning storm, feel the fear, feel alive again. I am strong, I have survived this long. Use the plane, get it off ground, terrific and terrifying, try to land, half successful. I can do this! Try again in a new plane. Success. Practice and practice, getting the hang of it. Find a parachute, find maps, locate airports and highways that can be used as landing strips. Start expanding out with flights, 10 miles, 20 miles, 50 miles. Back to temporary home by the ocean. Make plans, fly around continent. Pack food, pack clothes, pack gas, pack water. Start to fly around continent, getting hopes up to find someone as miles flow by beneath me. No one is found. But my hopes are not dashed. Must continue. Finish this continent, 2 years have passed. Seen no one, heard no one.

Time to cross the ocean. Find major airport. Read up on large plane. I will not be able to land this thing in a million years. Find parachutes. Strap one to front and one to back for extra safety. Drive airliner around airport strips. Similar to small plane. Plan and plan and plan and plan. Where to go? Europe. Get in airplane, aim it down runway. One chance at this. Have to take off or crash. Will not be able to land. Go time. Gain lots of speed, so fast. Lift off. I'm flying! I'm FUCKING FLYING A TRANSATLANTIC AIRLINER! HOLY SHIT! Ocean spreads out beneath me. Beautiful. I can see the curvature of the earth, I can see Greenland! Oh wait that is Nova Scotia. Hours pass. Is that England? No that must be Iceland! Keep going. THERE is England, THERE is Europe. Bring down to 15,000 feet. Have to open hatch. Holy shit I can't believe I'm doing this. Open and jump, holy shit. Oh my god I'm going to die! Pull parachute. Chute opens. Float to ground and twist my ankle. Broken? No seems like sprain. What do I know I'm no doctor? I know a bit. Find vehicle. God this place is alien. Search continent. Still no one. STILL NO ONE! It's been 12 years. I'm 37. I'm alone. I've been alone so long I'm not even lonely. It's just the way I am. It's the way life is. I give up. Find a stray dog. Find a penthouse in London. Spend months retrofitting and renovating. Making it comfortable. Find books, bring mountains of books back. Bring mountains of movies back. Bring video games and video game systems. Haven't touched a video game in 13 years now. Spend years swimming in pool in my London apartment, driving exotic cars, exploring the city and shops. Break into houses, look at photo albums, explore peoples lives. Live vicariously through photo albums and journals and grocery lists. Read books and books and books.

Another 17 years pass.

It's been 30 years since. I'm 55. I'm getting old. Still no one. Try one last time. Fly to Asia, to Africa, to Middle East, back to Europe, back to North America. Back to my parents place. I'm 62. I'm getting sick. Is this the end? Perhaps. Am I happy? As happy as can be. That's a lie. I'm miserable. Do I have regrets? No, I looked everywhere for a sign of life, found no one. That's a lie. I regret not saying goodbye. Stop being unfair to yourself, you never knew this would happen. Still feel awful about it. Getting sicker. Scared to die, so alone. Why God have you done this to me? Lay down in parents bed. No smell anymore. It's been too long. Cry for a long time. Fall asleep.

tl;dr I would do absolutely everything within my power to find another human being.

OH god, please can we fund this. We must keep it totally secret though, all through production. Absolutely zero leaks. In fact, we'll film a totally serious ending and the funny one and we'll show different cuts in different theatres at random. It'll be like Clue.

I actually like your current ending, its consitent and logical. Having someone randomly find you in a house after all that would seem so fake.

Your current ending really brought home how it would feel to be isolated like that. To no longer justify your achievements by the opinions of others. A terrible freedom from judgement, at the cost of ever feeling accepted.

its the shortest scary story in the world. Imagine all human beings swept off the face of the earth, excepting one man. Imagine this man in some vast city, New York or London. Imagine him on the third or fourth day of his solitude sitting in a house and hearing a ring at the door-bell!

i never understood why this is so scary. at the very worst, it's a violent/craz person out to kill you. well, that is certianly not the most scray thing i have ever heard. and there is a 90% chance (or whatever, jsut a high fucking chance) that it's a "normal" human just like you, so now you have some companionship at least.

It's scary because the original story (The last man on earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door.) is written in third person omniscient perspective, which means that the narrator speaks the absolute truth. The character in the story is the last human being alive. The horror aspect comes from the sense of "the other," in that if the entity that knocked is not human, what is it?

A moment's indecision. Can it be real? You hear the knock again. Your heart goes into overdrive with excitement while your gut sinks with fear. Who could it possibly be? What will you say? Do you even remember how to speak?

All these concerns fall to the back of your mind as you drag your old aching body out of bed and to the front door and throw it open.

Wait... what were you doing? Where is this? A man in a blue jumpsuit is at your door, pointing what looks like a package scanner at you. "Alright, alright! Looks like we're in business again!"

"Wh... what?" you stammer. It's dark out. It wasn't dark just a second ago, was it?

"You're looking healthy!" the man says. "Sorry about the mixup there. Bit of a disaster, that. But everything seems to be back in order now!"

Before you respond you notice that the street lamps are on and you see a couple cars drive down the road. Then you notice that that's not the road in front of your parents' house. You're somewhere else. An apartment complex. Isn't this where you used to live, back before everyone was gone? Then it finally occurs to you that you're feeling much better, and that your hands don't look so old and wrinkly anymore. "Everything's... back in order?"

"Yessir." He pulls a small business card out of his pocket and pushes it at you. "They've decided to offer you a bit of psychological counseling. Just call this number in the morning. Oh and... personal advice? Best not to talk about what happened. Anyways, I've got to run and take care of a few more things." He tips his hat, "Have a nice life," and walks off around the corner.

"What? Wait! Don't go!"

You hear a shout from behind you, indoors. "Dude, what's up? Who was that?" You turn around to see your old roommate on the couch, not having aged a day, and you really don't know what to say.

Power engineer here. The grid is out in under a day. The good news is you don't need to make a generator from scratch (though it's not terribly difficult) you can just pick one up from a hardware store or such. Gasoline will likely start to expire a few months to a year or two though, so ideally you want to find a propane gen before then. A decent isolated windmill or solar source could also help.

Flying without training is pretty dangerous. I'd recommend looking into radio instead for long distance mass comm attempts.

Were I female I might consider searching early for sperm bank samples and storing as many as I can in a cool place for attempting artificial insemination on myself (and kids? I don't know the life expectancy of samples)...though I have no idea where to find them or how to store them and a solo pregnancy is definitely a life threatening risk.

I think perhaps if you did enough research on all the cockpit information, and spent enough time running the plane down a runway to get comfortable with that. Then you practiced lifting off the ground a few feet before setting it down. Then you tried a few meters if you could. I think after that, that it would be plausible that I could take off and land in a small single engine aircraft. Possibly not, possibly so?

thought process: ya boi, just cruising through askreddit tryna cop some internet points. think to myself, yea, i know the first thing id do if i was the last dude on earth. sees /u/Croemato's thesis paper. back the fuck out cause i aint topping that. comment anyway cause fuck you

There are of course places that where made to withstand nukes let alone just being there. And if your the only person alive what else would you do but sit in your underwear eat chips off your chest and watch re runs of shows.

As someone with zero experience with boats or planes, I feel traversing the Atlantic might be a bit difficult. Learning to sail or fly without any help, well, there's not much room for error. I couldn't say for sure I wouldn't make it, but there's are enough super cars nearby for me to question the point of such a risky endeavor.

First stop - Pharmacy. HELLLOOO OXXYCONNTTIINN. If i'm gonna be alone for the rest of my life I'm gonna be fucked up too. TTThhheennn, to the grocery store. Get those prime cuts of steak before they're bad, swing by the spirit store and the distributor, load up my new huge ass diesel truck that nobody is using anymore, go find a kick ass place to crash, find some generators, stock up on my surplus, maybe hit up an ammo shop or two just incase theres some kinda lions breakin out of zoos n shit, or rhinos n shit, then just kick it until my body shuts down from excessive partying or the inevitable

I feel this is the most honest answer. I'd go find a gun or a dropbear and kill myself. I couldn't live like this and even now just thinking about this is freaking me out. Maybe if there were animals I could survive. Surround myself with dogs and maybe I could make it but otherwise I couldn't do it.

I would go to work. I'd be surprised the roads were empty. I'd be even more surprised no one is at work. No new posts on reddit. No news on YCombinator. No news on anything. I'd check the calendar to make sure I didn't miss any holiday. I could just see myself going into work accidentally on Christmas Eve or something.

But nope, it's in November and not Thanksgiving. So... I call a few numbers on my phone. Friends don't answer. Coworkers don't answer. My mechanic and doctor don't answer either. Getting a bit freaked out, so I look up the number for the mayoral office, the governor's office, and various other institutions like that. No answer. I try 511, 911, poison control, and start thinking something is really wrong.

Now kind of assuming people left in an orderly fashion - no cars were piled up on the highway, no planes fell from the sky (near 3 major airports, so there would've been something), and the internet/electrical grid/phone systems all are still working.

But it's like the entire planet is silent. So I check Chinese websites, Russian websites, al-Jazeera, any African website I can find, and so on. Still nothing.

This is still the first day. So I just kind of think "screw it, let's see what happens tomorrow". I go home, eat, play video games, sleep.

Next day, check the internet again. Check 911, state government, federal government, foreign embassies, and still nothing. So now it may be time to freak out a bit. Every website with user posting, I drop a line in - "Am I alone?" goes out worldwide in as many languages as Google knows.

I'm pretty stoic and practical, so I take the next few days to gather supplies just in case. Gather up gasoline containers, fill them up where I can; grab food from the grocery store, batteries from everywhere, and camping gear.

No hits on the website posts, so I am pretty sure I'm alone. And if not alone on the world, it would at least be nearly impossible to find someone else. I could cover what - maybe California in a lifetime? Drive through every city, knock on every door, look in every window, shout in every foyer? Seems like a lot of work for very little likelihood of success. And while the internet and phones are working, seems like a waste of time.

So I just gather up supplies and check online now and then. Years pass. Internet keeps going. With no users, no packets, but no maintenance, it keeps most of itself working. I downloaded Wikipedia a while ago. Torrented nearly every book or manual I could think of. Tons of movies and documentaries. Language lessons. All sorts of contingencies in case the only other person alive only speaks Swahili or something like that.

Easily enough supplies and non-perishable food to last a single person a lifetime. I find a nearby field and burn "AM I ALONE? 2017" in huge letters in the grass, surround the letters with stones, and salt the earth just to be sure. Takes a day, but maybe someone is watching with a satellite or space ship. Because I still have no clue where everyone is.

More years pass. Most mechanical features of daily life have broken down. Gas pumps generally don't work anymore - glad I filled my old apartment complex's parking lot with gas containers. The electrical facilities are still running on their own for the most part, but I have had to move a few times from fallen power lines.

Years slip into decades. I've started exploring. Part of me was hoping I could get contact through the internet, but that has finally given up the ghost. Routers reach their end of life and no one replaces them. Web servers have a drive failure and it's fine, but eventually the hot backup goes too. Phones work, but even though I downloaded phone numbers to my tablet, I don't call. No point when no one has answered in decades.

Days are mostly spent reading, draining batteries, and burning gas. I live in a very temperate area, so the weather is generally nice to me. I now live with the best of luxury - infinite thread count sheets, pillows made of dreams and wishes, bath tubs bigger than my old apartment/gasoline storage facility, and so on. I don't remember when I decided theft was no longer a thing, but I've gone shopping for better stuff a few times now.

Food is still pretty simple. Rice has lasted me a long time, though it's getting boring. After 15 years or so I figure it's time to learn farming.

Okay, more than just the first thing, but I liked the idea of going further after reading Croemato's post. Normally, such as if this were a writing prompt, I'd assume there's some reason the world was empty, but I just took the question literally. Everyone's gone, no rhyme or reason, how do you live the rest of your days?

At first, and once i confirm i am alone, i will fuck around and just have fun, run naked, sing in the streets, go do stupid things.

Once i'm done with that, i'll study some biology, learn about in vitro fertilisation, and ways to make a fetus grow outside a human's body.

I will then find a sperm bank and ovary bank, randomly match some and supervise the fetuses.

I will take care of the toddlers, watch them grow, teaching each one something different. Tell them that once i pass away, it'll be their job to insure humanity gets recreated.

Repeat that process as many times as i can before i die.

Die knowing that humanity will live on, that i left a legacy for the world to be reborn, maybe even a better world than before.Maybe the new humanity, will grow to learn the mistakes we have done and thrive to become a better population.

I'm assuming that by last person, you mean pets and such are still around. I'd probably go to the animal shelters and pet stores and release all the animals I could.

After a few days/weeks of that, I'd start traveling. I'd drive to all the places I wanted to go in the Americas. I'd drive the Dalton Highway in Alaska in a Porsche. I'd climb the Chilean Andes in a Range Rover. Maybe drive a motorcycle to Key West. I'd leave photographs wherever I went so if, by some chance, someone else was out there, they'd at least know they weren't alone.

Years would pass. I'd find places to spend the winters and summers. I'd keep returning to my home here in Virginia just to see how things change.

Then, after I'd logged enough miles on the road, I'd load up a trawler yacht with fuel and water pick a heading and just head east to Europe....where'd I'd do the same thing I did in the Americas.

Finally, once I'd worn out my welcome in Asia/Europe/Africa, I'd go back to my boat, give myself a viking funeral.

Provided this isn't an apocalypse, and more of the "everyone disappeared instantly" situation - I would spend my days wandering.

Snoop in people's houses, see how they lived, see what state things were in when they vanished. Assuming the grid is still running, play music as loudly as I want. Go into businesses, look in employee only areas, behind closed doors. Touch things. Stand on rooftops. Amass a collection of things I've always wanted, or of things that interest me when I do come across them, like the world is my garage sale. Eat like royalty - cook all the things I don't have the money to buy, like high-end steaks, or rack of lamb. Read; read everything. Enjoy nature, and the complete freedom of no longer being tied to a job, debt, societal expectations.

I would visit the homes of my loved ones, and treat them as if they were shrines. Move nothing, quietly and reverently cherish every messy corner, every unfinished project. Sit on my aunt and uncle's couch with a good book and a cup of tea. Curl up in my boyfriend's bed and hold his pillow to my face until there is no trace of his smell left. Run my hands along my grandfather's worn-in flannel shirts, stare at my mother's vast collection of family pictures. I will weep. I will miss them. I will try my best to not let it eat at me. I will cherish their dwellings and their halted lives until the day I join them.

Finally drive a car. Fuck you law. Fly a plane from the nearest airport big enough to hold an A380. Using multiple planes if necessary, fly to Pyongyang to find out if Room 39 is real. Then fly to London to camp a few nights in my girlfriend's house. Then go to the White House. Then go to sleep in the Oval Office.